Thursday, December 8, 2016

Love vs Lust

What is love and what is lust?
How can we distinguish between the two terms? Which one have we felt in the
past? These are interesting questions. Defining ideas and words are a first
step in order to understand them and try and achieve the ideal, our objective
in life and in our actions. Philip Sherrard in his interesting book Christianity and Eros, he explains the
difference of love and lust. He begins by giving St Augustine’s definition of
lust, whereby it’s ‘essentially a desire for self-satisfaction.’ (p.45). The
author continues his explanation:

[Lust] is a desire to possess
something, to make it serve our own purpose and become part of us. In lust, it
is the self which is the centre of attraction, and the object which stimulates
it is simply an object and nothing more. That is why lust dies when it is
satisfied: it ends with self-gratification, and then disappears until it is
rekindled again by its object. In this it is to be distinguished from love. In
love, it is not the self but the object which is the centre of attraction. One
can go even further and say that the object of love ceases to be an object and
becomes an ‘other,’ a particularised being, and it is this ‘other’ that is the
centre of attraction. And love is fulfilled (not satisfied, which it never can
be) not in an act of appropriation in which nothing is given; it is fulfilled
in a total act of giving. It is the activity in which the self goes out of
itself in the most complete way. This is not to say that lust and love
represent an absolute duality in human life. Lust is not love. But if love is
centred on the self and not on what is loved it becomes lust. (pp.45-6).

About Me

I have studied Theology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Theology, International Relations at the University of London (Queen Mary). My Master's Thesis was published as a book: 'The Aegean Sea Dispute Between Greece and Turkey - The Consequences for NATO and the EU'. For more information see: http://www.akakia.net/el/the-aegean-sea-dispute-between-greece-and-turkey
I have also studied Byzantine Music in Athens and I am currently undertaking a research on the “Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius and its contribution towards Anglican – Orthodox Relations”, at the University of Winchester.
I also represent the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain at the A.E.C.A. If you wish to contact me you can email me: demetrifs1@yahoo.com